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My friend Daniel gave me a book on Chinese Brush Painting. Although I have owned for years now three or four Chinese brushes and a few sheets of rice paper, I was not ready for this undertaking, and chose to continue with watercolor, since I have recently enjoyed it so much (and my vacation was getting to an end, so I went for the most gratifying process.)

It took me several attempts sketching the figure to keep to realistic proportions (the man still has a slightly too big head), I used a Pentel black pigment Brushpen, which performs wonderfully on really thin and thick lines:

I then erased the pencil and turned to watercolor. I used alizarin crimson for the flowers:

I added a few touches of black with my Brushpen to create the details of the flowers. I prepared yellow watercolor and painted the hat by drawing rays and leaving some white. I darkened my yellow with yellow ochre and added a few touches to the hat and went on painting the skin. I darkened further the mix with a bit of burnt sienna to paint the stick. Lastly I mixed a bit of turquoise and white to paint the belt.

I added water to my ochre/brown mix and with a light wash painted the background so the white robe would stand out. Here is the resulting painting framed (12.2 x 17.2 cm):

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A quick go at two cranes on a pine tree, based on a mural I photographed in China in April 2016:

I chose a sheet of beige Canson paper, used a Pentel black brushpen for the outline and the black feathers of the cranes, and watercolor for the rest. I added white watercolor for highlights on the branch, and a white Posca pen for the cranes’ neck line and beak:

Here is the resulting painting, framed (30×20 cm) and ready to give as a present: